The Bodega Bay post office opened in 1941, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bay (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,127 in 19902020 census: 91285 years
How historic is Bodega Bay?
C−
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Bodega Bay post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bodega Bay’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bodega Bay is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bodega Bay’s overall grade.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bodega Bay’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±11.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Bodega Bay’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The port of Bodega was occupied for a short time, in 1793, by a Spanish garrison and four guns, which were soon removed, however, to Monterey, there being no indication of the threatened English occupation which had caused the alarm.
Bodega Bay is the site of the first Russian structures built in California, which were erected in 1809 by Commerce Counseller Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov of the Russian-American Company in the lead-up to the establishment of Fort Ross. The Russians named the Bodega Bay settlement Port Rumyantsev after the Russian Foreign Minister Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, and it served as a port to support Fort Ross and the larger Russian community known as Colony Ross.
The Bodega Bay post office opened in 1941, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Bodega Bay rank for history?
Bodega Bay is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Bodega Bay?
14% of Bodega Bay’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1984.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
